89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) Coverage Initiated at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of 89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on ETNB. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of 89bio in a research report on Saturday, February 1st. Raymond James raised shares of 89bio to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of 89bio in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of 89bio from $25.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of 89bio in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.43.

89bio Stock Performance

89bio stock opened at $11.43 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 11.66 and a current ratio of 11.66. The company has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of -3.93 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $7.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.24. 89bio has a fifty-two week low of $5.99 and a fifty-two week high of $16.63.

Insider Activity at 89bio

In related news, CEO Rohan Palekar acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.35 per share, for a total transaction of $83,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 466,236 shares in the company, valued at $3,893,070.60. The trade was a 2.19 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ra Capital Management, L.P. acquired 5,714,285 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.75 per share, with a total value of $49,999,993.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,554,319 shares in the company, valued at $171,100,291.25. The trade was a 41.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 5,744,285 shares of company stock valued at $50,235,694 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ETNB. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of 89bio by 14.2% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 15,158,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,140,000 after buying an additional 1,882,108 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in 89bio by 29.6% in the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,006,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,245,000 after acquiring an additional 686,673 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 89bio by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,074,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,358,000 after acquiring an additional 160,356 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in 89bio by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 810,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,341,000 after acquiring an additional 89,776 shares during the period. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in shares of 89bio in the third quarter valued at about $5,631,000.

89bio Company Profile

89bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of liver and cardio-metabolic diseases. Its lead product candidate is pegozafermin, a glycoPEGylated analog of fibroblast growth factor 21 for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; and for the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia.